Podcasts

Hey everyone! It's time for a mighty Mobile Nations podcast network update, and a peak at some really cool stuff we have planned for 2013! First of all, we have all-new album art for the shows. The original concept was created by superstar designer Marc Edwards of Bjango to be crisp, clean, and modern. It's tough to make a whole catalog of shows consistent yet retain all their individual personalities. With Marc's help, I think we've nailed it. And by popular demand, we've even added a small TV logo to the bottom of all the video podcast album art so you can distinguish them from their audio counterparts at a glance. We absolutely love them, and we hope you do too. (And yes, we'll be making all of them available as HiDPI/Retina wallpaper for your phones and tablets later this week!)

If you haven't recently, please make sure you leave a review and rating for your favorite Mobile Nations shows, where ever and when ever you can. It encourages services (like iTunes) to feature us, that helps us get more great listeners and viewers like you, and we appreciate it a lot!

As many of you noticed -- and rightly kicked our collective asses about -- Mobile Nations video podcasts haven't exactly been working right for a while now. Sure, the YouTube versions were fine, but the .mp4 files we made available over RSS, iTunes, and direct download would error out as often as not. Well, that's all been fixed!

We do a lot of podcasts, both at iMore and at the Mobile Nations network in general. Any given week, we're putting out 5 or more hours of audio and video. Multiply that by the course of year, add in some trade show coverage, cross-overs, and appearances on other networks, and you get the idea. In 2012 we took it up yet another notch. We added more shows, stretched a little beyond mobile, and ramped up a lot of our production efforts. To see which ones you liked the most, we once again turned to analytics and counted all the plays.

October madness is open us, with Apple's iPad and Mac event coming on Tuesday, along with several Microsoft, Google, T-Mobile, and probably other events later in the month. That's then. This is now. And I'd like to take this brief breather to go over some exciting changes we're making to our podcast schedule.

Rene's angry, Seth is tired, and Georgia's at peace with the universe. Wait... what? Join us in the Fringe-verse as we talk the iOS 6 App Store, the Podcasts app, the new iPod touch and iPod nano, the iPad mini non-event, and app.net. This is the iMore show!

We love podcasts here at iMore -- you can tell by how many we make! -- and we're curious how you're listening to them on your iPhone, iPod, and iPad these days? Since Apple has released their own Podcasts app has that become your default? Do you prefer to use a third party app like Pocket Casts, Downcast, Instacast, or iCatcher? Do you use something else entirely? Or do you not listen to podcasts at all?

As always, give me your vote in the poll up top and tell me what makes your go-to podcast app your go to podcast app in the comments below!

Shortly after Apple unveiled iOS 6 at WWDC 2012, they released the standalone Podcasts app into the App Store. Previously, podcasts were downloaded via the iTunes app and could be played back in either the Music or Video app, depending on whether they were audio or video podcasts. That split, along with with the lack of any ability to subscribe to podcasts, made it a less than ideal experience (which numerous third party apps tried to solve.) Now, with the dedicated Podcasts app, and with its iOS 6 and iPhone 5 updates, Apple is better is solving it themselves.

Note: This was originally supposed to be part of my iOS 6 review but due to size and time constraints, I'm posting it separately, an belatedly.

Apple has updated Podcasts for iPhone and iPad with significant improvements to performance and stability. Additionally, Podcasts in your library will show the number of unplayed episodes, Top Stations will show the podcast title if artwork is missing, and when playing the next episode, playback speed is remembered.

Apple has just released their new Podcasts app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. While it's not as feature-rich or complex as some other podcast apps on the App Store, if it's your first time using a podcast app, you may be wandering just how exactly to get started using it.

Apple has just launched their own podcast app, called simply Podcasts. It's available right now in the App Store and is a universal binary so has specific interfaces for both iPhone and iPod touch, and iPad. It's a great way to listen to all your favorite podcasts, including iMore's and all the Mobile Nations shows.